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. 2020 Sep;288(3):335-344.
doi: 10.1111/joim.13089. Epub 2020 Jun 17.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 1420 European patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019

Jerome R Lechien  1   2   3   4 , Carlos M Chiesa-Estomba  1   5 , Sammy Place  1   6 , Yves Van Laethem  7 , Pierre Cabaraux  1   8 , Quentin Mat  1   8 , Kathy Huet  1   9 , Jan Plzak  10   11 , Mihaela Horoi  1   4 , Stéphane Hans  1   3 , Maria Rosaria Barillari  1   12 , Giovanni Cammaroto  1   13 , Nicolas Fakhry  1   14 , Delphine Martiny  15 , Tareck Ayad  1   16 , Lionel Jouffe  1   17 , Claire Hopkins  18   19 , Sven Saussez  2   4   20 ; COVID-19 Task Force of YO-IFOS
Collaborators, Affiliations

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 1420 European patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019

Jerome R Lechien et al. J Intern Med. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Background: The clinical presentation of European patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection is still unknown.

Objective: To study the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in Europe.

Methods: Patients with positive diagnosis of COVID-19 were recruited from 18 European hospitals. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained through a standardized questionnaire. Bayesian analysis was used for analysing the relationship between outcomes.

Results: A total of 1,420 patients completed the study (962 females, 30.7% of healthcare workers). The mean age of patients was 39.17 ± 12.09 years. The most common symptoms were headache (70.3%), loss of smell (70.2%), nasal obstruction (67.8%), cough (63.2%), asthenia (63.3%), myalgia (62.5%), rhinorrhea (60.1%), gustatory dysfunction (54.2%) and sore throat (52.9%). Fever was reported by 45.4%. The mean duration of COVID-19 symptoms of mild-to-moderate cured patients was 11.5 ± 5.7 days. The prevalence of symptoms significantly varied according to age and sex. Young patients more frequently had ear, nose and throat complaints, whereas elderly individuals often presented fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. Loss of smell, headache, nasal obstruction and fatigue were more prevalent in female patients. The loss of smell was a key symptom of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients and was not associated with nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea. Loss of smell persisted at least 7 days after the disease in 37.5% of cured patients.

Conclusion: The clinical presentation of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 substantially varies according to the age and the sex characteristics of patients. Olfactory dysfunction seems to be an important underestimated symptom of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 that needs to be recognized as such by the WHO.

Keywords: COVID-19; Europe; clinical; coronavirus; epidemiological; medicine; patients; symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Symptom Proportion. The proportion of symptoms (%) in the European mild‐to‐moderate COVID‐19 population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Symptom Duration Data. The proportion of patients (Y‐axis) and the duration of the disease (X‐axis, Days).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overview of one Network. Network describing the association between symptoms and some demographic data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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